Dominic Sandbrook

So the clan is now heading towards having dens in perhaps a quarter of all counties in the former Confederate South and probably about 150,000 members.

And don't forget, we're in the summer of 1868 at this point.

And now the stakes are becoming very high.

A reminder, the future of the Republic for the last year or so has been in the hands of the radical Republicans in Congress, and the whole Confederacy, with the exception of Tennessee, has been under military occupation.

But on the 3rd of November, 1868, the American people will have a chance to turn back the clock because this will be the first presidential election since the Civil War.

So the Republicans, as their candidate, have chosen General Ulysses S. Grant.

So he is the ultimate Northern war hero, and he is going to stand on an explicit platform of equal and civil political rights for all.

But the Democrats have chosen as their candidate Governor Horatio Seymour of New York.

And he is an outspoken critic of radical reconstruction.

And his campaign slogan is, and I quote, this is a white man's country.

But Tom, I have to say, when I look at the sheer sweep and scoby of everything we've done on The Rest is History, it starts to look a little bit like the Library of Alexandria, doesn't it?

We have.

And it is, of course, the official The Rest Is History website.

And I don't know about you, Tom, but when I look at that website, I don't think anything in my life has ever given me greater pleasure.

Well, Tom, I know you love the curated collections, but for me, the real highlight, the jewel in the crown, no less, is the Rest Is History archive.

So it is the complete official catalogue of every single episode that we have ever done.

Yeah, it's a brilliant thing, but it's not

The only thing that we have on the website.

There is a special book section if you're a book lover.

There's all the details about our live events, including the very exciting Rest is History Festival at Hampton Court.